since I started being sexually active i often experienced burning in my vagina which was often worse during sex /around the time of my period or when using lubricants. I was never able to use tampons because the one time i tried putting them in it felt like acid was poured on my skin. Fast forward to 2 months ago when I got a UTI and an allergic reaction in my vagina. I thought it …

So 7 years ago I had a case of BV...the antibiotic caused a horrible yeast infection which took 5 months to 'get rid of'. During this time I had allergic reactions to 2 of the yeast infection creams which magnified the pain. Over the past 7 years I've tried multiple rounds of physical therapy (they only slightly helped), chiropractic, nerve blocks, medications to target nerve pain (amitriptyline, …

Hello,
Has anyone had success with this cream in helping their vulvodynia? How long has it taken to help? I’ve had some success with it, but not completely better. I’ve been on it for a month. I️ was hoping to hear from some ladies who have had major success with this cream. I’m hoping for some encouragement here. This condition is so frustrating. I’m lucky enough to have access to two …

After years of being misdiagnosed etc as most women have on this forum I have finally been diagnosed with vulvodynia (yay) and have been given the lowest dose of an antidepressant called Amitriptyline. Has anyone been on this before and has any positive (or negative) news to give me? Im feeling down already and I've only been taking it for a few days, I don't have much hope of it …

I'm new here and wanted to ask for some advice whilst I wait to see a specialist nurse.

After urinary problems which lasted 7 weeks, I finally saw a urologist, who on examination discovered significant inflammation and called in a gynaecologist, who diagnosed vestibulitis. They referred me to a nurse who specialises in vulvar skin issues. That was 5 weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for the …

Hi guys new here and newly diagnosed. So I had bv and then after alot of antibiotics and home remedies I still continued to have weird symptoms despite swabs being negative. Two seperate gynes have told me I have vulvodynia as a result of the area being overwhelmed. So first gave me lidocaine which xidnt do much. No I am on amitriptyline for the past 5 days. Seems to be kicking in a little (im a …

I'm here because I'm pretty sure I have secondary provoked vestibuldynia, even though my gyno is still "optimistic" it is not. My problem started six months ago when I got my second UTI in as many months (after going 25 years of life without one) and then ended up with a bad yeast infection (also my first one ever) thanks to the antibiotics. Ever since the yeast …

Hello everyone. I have recently been diagnosed with unprovoked vulvodynia and would really appreciate some advice and support. I have had a chronic urine infection for 16 months and was on antibiotics for 9 of those months. I have been very uncomfortable for the entire time, but now I have absolutely unbearable stinging and burning all day with itching too. The infection has just about gone, …

Long Story, but I am losing my mind and getting really depressed, so if I tell the full story maybe someone can help me.

Back in August I started to get an itch down there. Normally, in the past, when this would happen, I would change the way I wore my clothes, take more baths instead of showers, and use Monistat. This time, after about two weeks of no relief, I started to get concerned. I was …

Please bear with me, this is pretty long. I took Bactrim for an unrelated issue, end of May. Second week of May felt what I thought like a yeast infection, used 7 day cream, seemed fine then started to burn by the end. Did an OTC PH test, seemed like Bacterial Vaginosis, doctors prescribed Clindomycin, without doing any tests. Did not work, still burning and very red vulva. Subsequently used about 4 different Monistat kits, no help. Finally went to Doctor, no yeast, no BV, no STDs they gave me a topical steroid, helped a bit but didn't get rid of redness, still fairly red. Doctors have given up on me, not sure where to turn. I also suffer from anxiety, the only thing that makes me feel better is taking Xanax. I think the stress is exacerbating the symptoms. Any advice would be so appreciated!

OTC yeast creams can be EXTREMELY irritating, and then combining that with taking antibiotics, your vagina and vulva are probably pretty unhappy at the moment. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but my best advice is to stop everything. Don't put anymore products inside your vagina because they will only make things worse. Give your vagina a chance to calm down and regulate itself.

I am speaking from experience. I have been suffering with this horrible condition for over 2 years because my anxiety had me throwing anything and everything into my vagina that I could get my hands on, and I allowed doctors to over prescribe many antibiotics within a short time period. I absolutely understand the desire to be doing something...anything...to help the burning stop, but I promise you that less is more when it comes to the delicate ecosystem that is the vagina It took me about 2 months of doing NOTHING to finally start seeing drastic improvements, and the less I touch, poke, rub and medicate, the better I get. I'm not healed yet, but I'm definitely going in the right direction finally after far too many months of anxiety fueled overreactions.

Learn from my mistakes and give it a few weeks before throwing something new at it. Trust me, I know that is hard and will probably feel impossible, but I wish I could go back 2 years and listen to my own advice. I hope you find relief soon

Thanks so much for your reply! My doctor called me just awhile ago and also told me, maybe just stop the steroid cream for about a week and we'll see you in the office in about a week if you're not better. She actually said maybe we over medicated! The thing that freaked me out is she mentioned possibly doing a biopsy to detect skin diseases...which would seem a bit coincidental suddenly popping up right after all these medications. You're totally correct my anxiety wants me to just keep trying things just to stop the pain!! I'm glad you are feeling better! Did you ever have to do a biopsy? Thanks again for the reply!

No, I never went through with a biopsy, but luckily no doctor really pushed it either. I've heard the biopsy healing process can be really painful. So I agree with your doctor that you should give it some time to calm down (probably more than a week) before going through with a biopsy.

At one point, OTC yeast creams felt like acid on my vulva, and they caused swelling and redness. They can be nasty if your vulva is already irritated.

Soaking in a bath really helped my symptoms. Unfortunately there wasn't much else that helped me. If your skin can tolerate it, an ice pack may provide some relief.

Hello!The last time I used Monistat was probably the second week of July. Today is the first day I'm stopping with the steroid. The steroid seemed to help with the really intense burning, but hasn't finished the job! Still so red and irritated. All of my doctors seem to be biopsy happy! I think that sounds like the worst idea right now! I highly doubt I have a skin disease and biopsy has a chance of infection, just had an infected biopsy from a mole in May! I was doing baking soda baths as well, haven't done that in about 10 days, Doctor said to stop that. Ugh, this is just so bizarre, I'm 2 months into this and already getting depressed about it!! I'm seeing a different Doctor tomorrow, hoping for a different opinion or outlook on things!

Steroids provided some relief for me for maybe the first couple of weeks and then started to make things worse. So I completely understand where you're coming from with that.

Be careful with baking soda baths because they can disrupt your pH, which then disrupts your flora. Baking soda baths are actually used as a treatment for a condition called lactobacillosis where it is believed that there is too much good bacteria (the purpose of treatment is to raise pH and kill off some of the good bacteria). I would recommend sticking with just a regular water bath because even epsom salt can be drying to the delicate skin down there (been there, done that).

You obviously have to do what is right for you, but so many women have said their biopsies came back as unspecified inflammation or something like that, which doesn't tell anyone anything other than your skin is inflammed (duh). Definitely weigh your options before jumping into a biopsy, which may lead to more antibiotics. Can you tell I'm very anti anything extreme with my girly bits at the moment

Is the doctor you're seeing tomorrow a vulvovaginal specialist or someone who has a lot of experience treating vulvodynia or vulvar skin conditions?

I agree with you on the baking soda, it probably contributed to my irritation! It is starting to seem that the more doctors I see with any medical issue, the worse the medical issue becomes!!

I will definitely wait more than just a week or two before doing the biopsy. Unless they think there is a high chance of something serious going on. I'm pretty sure they just like to cover their butts in the very slight chance something is very wrong!

Had I just left myself alone about a month ago, I feel like things would have cleared up by now! Just from reading posts in here, seems like everyone has done tons of antibiotics and creams, and it's never helped the situation. I do also think half the battle is mental. The more you focus on it, the more it hurts!

I don't know much about this doctor tomorrow, he's with a major medical establishment in my area, so let's hope he knows something